Head-To-Head Comparison: Agri Bank China (OTCMKTS:ACGBY) versus Hanover Bancorp (NASDAQ:HNVR)

Hanover Bancorp (NASDAQ:HNVR) and Agri Bank China (OTCMKTS:ACGBY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Hanover Bancorp and Agri Bank China”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hanover Bancorp	$143.32 million	1.31	$7.49 million	$1.27	20.87
Agri Bank China	$188.76 billion	1.54	$40.48 billion	$2.89	7.19

Agri Bank China has higher revenue and earnings than Hanover Bancorp. Agri Bank China is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hanover Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

15.0% of Hanover Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 24.4% of Hanover Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Hanover Bancorp and Agri Bank China, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hanover Bancorp	0	2	2	0	2.50
Agri Bank China	0	2	0	0	2.00

Hanover Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $28.50, indicating a potential upside of 7.51%. Given Hanover Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Hanover Bancorp is more favorable than Agri Bank China.

Dividends

Hanover Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Agri Bank China pays an annual dividend of $0.73 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Hanover Bancorp pays out 31.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Agri Bank China pays out 25.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Agri Bank China is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Hanover Bancorp and Agri Bank China’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hanover Bancorp	6.71%	6.00%	0.50%
Agri Bank China	21.51%	9.38%	0.60%

Risk & Volatility

Hanover Bancorp has a beta of 0.1, indicating that its stock price is 90% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Agri Bank China has a beta of 0.1, indicating that its stock price is 90% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Agri Bank China beats Hanover Bancorp on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hanover Bancorp

Hanover Bancorp, Inc., a bank holding company for Hanover Community Bank, provides personal and business lending and deposit services to businesses, municipalities, and individuals in the New York metro area. The company offers checking, credit cards, debit cards, money market, savings, government and municipal banking, and professional services, as well as time deposits, including certificate of deposit and individual retirement accounts. It also provides business loans, commercial real estate financing, small business administration, lending directory services, and residential mortgage. In addition, the company offers cash management, online and mobile banking, merchant services, and digital solutions. Its banking offices are located in Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, Kings, New York Counties, New York, Monmouth County, Freehold, and New Jersey. The company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Mineola, New York.

About Agri Bank China

Agricultural Bank of China Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides banking products and services. The company operates through Corporate Banking, Personal Banking, and Treasury Operations segments. It offers demand, personal call, foreign currency call, time or demand optional, foreign exchange call, foreign exchange time, savings, agreed term, and negotiated deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit; and loans, including housing, consumer, business, fixed asset, working capital, real estate, and entrusted syndicated loans, as well as trade finances, guarantees and commitments, and loans with custody of export rebates accounts. The company provides credit card, debit card, payment and settlement, private banking, cash management, investment banking, custody, financial market, and financial institution services, as well as trading and wealth management services; and personal fund collection and automatic transfer services. In addition, it offers agro-related personal and corporate banking products and services; telephone, mobile, self-service, television, and SMS banking services; financial leasing services; fund management services; asset custodian services; and insurance and reinsurance related products and services. The company operates domestic branches, including specialized institutions, training institutes, tier-1 branches, tier-2 branches, tier-1 sub-branches, foundation-level branch outlets and other establishments; overseas branches in Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, New York, Dubai International Financial Centre, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Sydney, Luxemburg, Dubai, London, Macao, and Hanoi; and overseas representative offices in Vancouver, Taipei, Sao Paulo, and Dushanbe. The company was founded in 1951 and is based in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.